§ * THE EARL OF STRAFFORD, in rising to ask whether the attention of the Local Government Board has been directed to the prevailing suffering of the children at the Central London District Schools at Hanwell from ophthalmia; whether any remonstrances and directions have been addressed to the managers and other officials of the said schools, and with what result, said that, if his information were correct, something like one-third of 1,200 children now in these schools were suffering from this disease, and that so long ago as 1875 the Local Government Board had had to take the managers of these schools to task for a similar state of suffering which might, humanly speaking, be easily avoided if a little more care were taken and a little more expense incurred in providing more cleanliness, more ventilation, and other hygienic appliances, and in cases where the disease had shown itself, more perfect isolation. In the North Surrey District Schools, at Anerley, these precautions had been adopted, under the able supervision of Mr. Nettleship, with perfect success, as well as at the West London Schools, where the annual average of ophthalmic cases among 711 children is only three.
* VISCOUNT TORRINGTONThe attention of the Local Government Board has been directed for many years to the ophthalmia existing at Hanwell. In 1874 they caused the schools to be examined with respect to ophthalmia by Mr. Edward Nettleship, who had been consulted with regard to this disease in the case of other schools. His report was sent to the managers, and in the following 112 year the views of the Board as to the course which should be taken were conveyed to them. The advice given by the Board included the following items—(1) Conveyance of the affected children to a separate site, with a view to their treatment under distinct administration; (2) the establishment of a more complete system of quarantine to prevent the introduction of ophthalmia into the school from without; (3) the provision of a distinct infant school, as the structure of the existing school was unsuitable for infants, and it was especially this class of children among whom ophthalmia prevailed; (4) various hygienic recommendations as to outdoor exercise. Unfortunately, these recommendations have been up to a recent period not fully adopted by the managers. The infant school was not erected, and the isolation of ophthalmic cases was not carried out in the way proposed. Nor has the admission of children whose eyes were in an unsound state been sufficiently prevented. Such imperfect measures of isolation as were taken resulted, however, in a certain degree of improvment in the condition of the schools until last year, when the disease again increased. The Board have since that time renewed their recommendations, and their medical inspector has held frequent conferences with the managers on the subject, in one of which the architect of the Board has taken part. The result has been that the managers have determined to build temporary huts on a piece of land sufficiently distant from the school buildings to secure the isolation of between 300 and 400 ophthalmic cases, under a medical officer specially engaged for the purpose. They have also resolved to build an infant school, and, further, to carry out some important structural improvements in the school buildings with the view of detaching these buildings from one another and facilitating the circulation of air. When these propositions have been carried into effect, there can be little doubt that these schools will enjoy the same freedom from ophthalmia that has resulted from the adoption of similar measures elsewhere.
* THE EARL OF KIMBERLEYI confess, my Lords, that I have very considerable doubts whether the accumulation of a large number of children in one 113 building is desirable. The Select Committee which took evidence some time ago in reference to the administration of the Poor Law were informed that a very large number of children were collected in one of those district schools—very many more than was desirable for their health. As regards the disease of ophthalmia, I know from my own experience in Norfolk that it never arises without great mismanagement, and that when it does break out in places where a large number of children are accumulated it becomes practically unmanageable. I think the system of what are termed "cottage homes," which has been adopted at Birmingham and elsewhere, is preferable to large establishments the size of which—besides other objections—makes it difficult to deal with the outbreak of contagious disease.
§ House adjourned at Five o'clock to Thursday next a quarter past Ten o'clock.